Tag: physics

EmDrive. Q drive. Cannae drive. All of these are a class of devices known as resonant cavity thrusters, and for the past few years they've been popping up in the media from time to time. What's the big idea? Take an ordinary household magnetron (you'll find one in every microwave oven). Use it to pump … Continue reading Resonant Cavity Thrusters

Although man has long known that the world is larger than he can imagine, it is only recently that scientists have begun to hypothesize that the entirety of our universe is but a small subset of an unfathomable existence.

The Moon holds a special place in our imaginations -- and why not? Along with the Sun and the five classical planets, the Moon is one of the few celestial objects whose apparent motion in the night sky can be seen. You can even see its disk with the naked eye -- and unlike the … Continue reading 5 Misconceptions about the Moon

I've heard it said the English slow waltz is the most beautiful to behold. Dancers in constant motion, pairing, twirling to the music. They swirl across the dance floor like snowflakes in a winter breeze.
Thorium-232 has the slowest of waltzes.

In the last article on Tachyon Rocketry, it appears that even a rocket propelled by tachyons is limited by the lightspeed barrier. The problem is that our bodies (and our starship) are made of electrons, quarks, and other particles with real, non-zero mass. In the context of faster-than-light tachyons, such particles are known as bradyons … Continue reading Faster than Slower than Light

Say you want to build an interstellar rocket. Cool beans. What's the best way to go about it? Well, to get the highest possible delta-v, you want the highest possible exhaust velocity for your rocket propellant. So what's the fastest thing in the universe? Unless you're living in a universe with FTL, that would be … Continue reading Photon Rockets for Interstellar Travel